13 September 2009

SAHA supports the Young Historians' Oral History Competition

The Nkosi Albert Luthuli Young Historians’ Oral History Competition for secondary learners is once again underway across the country.

Launched by the Department of Education in 2005, the competition is open to all learners from Grade 8 to Grade 11 and all history educators in secondary schools across the country. Learners are required to research and prepare a presentation or a documentary film or video while educators prepare or develop a work plan on how they planned and set up the oral history project in the classroom.

SAHA has supported this initiative in the past by providing oral history resources, oral history training for educators, and by adjudicating the competition (along with a panel of adjudicators from other organisations and universities) at provincial and national level. SAHA is also the organisation responsible for archiving the winning portfolios from the competition - we will be preparing a online resource of digitised materials from the competition to be launched in early 2010. This year, SAHA was involved in the adjudication of the Gauteng competition in early September, and we are providing copies of our guidebook and DVD on oral history, Meeting History Face-to-Face, to all participants at the National round of the competition, to be held in Bloemfontein from 24 - 26 September 2009.